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From presidents Carter, George H.W. Bush, Clinton, and George W. Bush.

The Wilson Library is home to five special collections: The North Carolina Collection, the Rare Book Collection, the Southern Folklife Collection, the Southern Historical Collection, and the University Archives and Records Management Services. Wilson Library is open to all students, scholars, and the public for research and quiet study. Throughout the year, the Library’s collections offer public events and exhibitions that highlight their rare and unique materials.

Note that this is an incomplete collections list. Please contact the organization directly for the most current information about their holdings.

Created by: Sue Perdue

Gayle and Crawford family papers, 1826-1895 [microfilm manuscript]

ca. 30 items.
In the Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (#2777).
Originals returned to private owner in 1943.
The collection includes travel diaries, 1839-1854, and about 20 family letters, 1826-1895, of Sarah Ann Gayle Crawford (1824-1895), daughter of John Gayle. Sarah Crawford's diaries describe traveling from Alabama to New York and attending school there, 1839-1840; visiting in South Carolina; attending President Zachary Taylor's inaugural ball; traveling in Vermont and Canada, 1849; and travels in the South, New York, England, France, and Spain, and returning to Mobile, Ala., 1853-1854. Also included is William Crawford's diary, 1852, kept while he was traveling in Switzerland and Italy.
Microfilm. Chapel Hill, N.C. : University of North Carolina, 1975.
See also Bayne and Gayle Family Papers (#1101), Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
See also Sarah Ann Gayle Crawford Papers, Manuscripts Department, Duke University Library, Durham, N.C.
Finding aid: http://www2.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/g/Gayle_and_Crawford_Family.html

Alexander Boyd Andrews Papers, 1678-1946

Correspondence, chiefly 1911-1946, of Andrews with lawyers and judges throughout the English-speaking world concerning legal education, and with government officials in the United States and abroad, Episcopalians, newspaper editors, school administrators, and legislators. The papers reflect Andrews's concern with gathering and disseminating information and statistics on legal education, adult illiteracy, the training of college teachers in North Carolina (including African- Americans), the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of North Carolina, and many other subjects of public concern and North Carolina historical interest. Included are four letters from William Howard Taft, 1921, 1923, and 1928.

Maunsel White papers, 1802-1912.

ca. 110 items (1.5 linear feet)
In the Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (#2234).
Chiefly correspondence (some on microfilm only) about growing and marketing cotton, sugar, and other crops, mostly 1842-1850, and a set of plantation journals, 1852-1883, documenting the operation of the Whites' plantations, Deer Range and Junior Place. Also included are one letter from and one letter to Andrew Jackson; a letter from Zachary Taylor; letters from Maunsell White to his son while the latter was attending the University of Virginia, 1850-1851; a memoranda book of expenses and business transactions in New Orleans, New York, and Philadelphia, 1802-1804; and two autograph books, one of which is from St. Joseph's College in Louisiana, circa 1846, and the other from the University of Virginia, 1850-1851.
Microfilm copy of entire collection available.
In part, Microfilm. Originals privately owned.
Maunsel White was a New Orleans commission merchant and Plaquemines Parish, La., planter. His son, Maunsell White, Jr. (fl. 1835-1883), was also a merchant and planter.
Finding Aid: http://www2.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/w/White,Maunsel.html

Alexander Robert Lawton Papers, 1774-1952

Lawton, Alexander Robert, 1818-1896. Correspondence, chiefly 1839-1896, relating to the military, political, and business careers of Alexander Robert Lawton and to members of his family. Included are a personal and plantation diary, 1810-1840, of his father, Alexander James Lawton (1796-1876); a few items relating to A.R. Lawton's wife, Sarah Hillhouse (Alexander) Lawton (1826-1897); and some materials relating to the law career of his son, Alexander Rudolph Lawton (1858-1936). Correspondence related to Alexander Robert Lawton's Civil War activities include letters from Robert E. Lee, Varina Howell Davis, Jubal A. Early, and Jefferson Davis; also of interest are battle notes by Stonewall Jackson. Family correspondence includes a number of letters exchanged between the women of the Lawton family revealing their perceptions of the antebellum political and subsequent military conflict. Of particular interest is correspondence discussing sectional conflicts and related matters. Postwar materials include several items pertaining to the development of railroad companies in Georgia. Also included are a letter book, 1887-1889, of Alexander Robert Lawton in Vienna; correspondence, 1921, between William Howard Taft and Alexander Rudolf Lawton, including two holograph letters from Taft; an account of an 1887 sea voyage to Liverpool by Sarah Lawton; a journal of a seven-day walking tour through Georgia and North Carolina; an 1892 diary kept by Sarah Lawton of her social activities, a record of the proceedings of the trustees of Blackswamp Academy, of which Alexander James Lawton was secretary, in 1818; images of Alexander James Lawton; and a signed carte-de-visite of Robert E. Lee.

Angus Wilton McLean Papers, 1910-1933

McLean, Angus Wilton, 1870-1935. Angus Wilton McLean of Lumberton, N.C., was a lawyer, banker, and active Democrat. He served as a director of the U.S. War Finance Corporation, 1918-1920; assistant U.S. secretary of the treasury, 1920- 1921; and as governor of North Carolina, 1925-1929. "Letters from Prominent Men" (microfilm); nine scrapbooks of clippings pertaining to McLean's career; and a record, 1926, of appointments to office made by McLean as governor. "Letters from Prominent Men" consists of letters received by McLean between 1912 and 1933, selected from his correspondence and mounted in alphabetical order by name of writer in two volumes. A few of these letters discuss policies of the War Finance Corporation or Democratic Party politics; most of the letters express good wishes upon McLean's entering or leaving office, thanks for letters from McLean, or thanks for signed photographs of him. Writers of the letters include Josiah W. Bailey, Bernard Baruch, Calvin Coolidge, Josephus Daniels, William E. Dodd, Herbert Hoover, Claude Kitchin, Cameron Morrison, William G. McAdoo, Lee S. Overman, Franklin D. Roosevelt, F.M. Simmons, Alfred E. Smith, Joseph P. Tumulty, and Woodrow Wilson.

Calvin J. Cowles Papers, 1773-1941

The papers consist of letterpress copy books, 1877-1907; mercantile account books; land surveys and papers relating to Cowles's land holdings in North Carolina, Kansas, and South Dakota; papers relating to his copper and mica mines in northwestern North Carolina; business correspondence; and numerous letters exchanged between Cowles and his ten children giving a detailed picture of their education and careers. Correspondents included: Frank Armin, William Brandreth, A.W. Finley, Col. Julius Gray, George B. Hanna, John Hinsdale, William W. Holden, Phineas Horton, Davenport Jackson, Max Long, Col. George Polk, Henry Reynolds, Charles Strauss, William T. Sutherlin, William H. Taft, Harvey Terry, Robert Vance, and John A. Young. Also included are letters to and from son Arthur Duval Cowles, who bought his father's business in 1869 and moved it to Ashe County, N.C., and campaign papers of another son, Charles Holden Cowles, Republican U.S. representative, 1908-1910. The bulk of the material is dated after 1875; there is little pertaining to C.J. Cowles's political activities during Reconstruction.

Adolphus Staton Papers, 1907-1936

Staton, Adolphus. Adolphus Staton was a native of Tarboro, N.C., and U.S. Navy officer, who graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1902 and retired as rear admiral in 1937. Papers of Adolphus Staton, primarily relating to Staton's naval career, including personal and official correspondence, some with prominent military, naval, and political figures, including Calvin Coolidge, H.G. Rickover, and Josephus Daniels; and reports, clippings, newsletters, and other official publications of the U.S. Navy. Topics of interest include Staton's command of various destroyers; Navy bureaucracy, relations with other branches of the U.S. Armed Forces, and internal politics; Staton's experiences in the Asiatic fleet, especially in China during the civil unrest of the 1920s; and his shore duty at the U.S. Navy's Bureau of Navigation, where he handled naval discipline and legal affairs. There is also personal correspondence with friends and family discussing family matters, financial matters, and social news; scattered bills and receipts; and three volumes of scrapbooks containing clippings, photographs, and other memorabilia pertaining to Staton's naval career, 1918-1936.

Silas McBee Papers, 1872-1923

McBee, Silas, 1853-1924. Native of North Carolina, active Episcopal layman, author, editor of "The Churchman" and founder of "The Constructive Quarterly.". Correspondence with leaders in the Christian and other faiths, statesmen, diplomats, educators, and philanthropists; much of it written in connection with McBee's work s editor of "The Churchman" and "The Constructive Quarterly," and as vice president of the Brotherhood of St. Andrew. The papers reflect McBee's interest in social, political, religious, and intellectual questions, particularly his concern with Christian world unity, foreign missions, church architecture, and the propagation of the social gospel in American politics and international affairs. Correspondents include James Bryce, Alfred Thayer Mahan, William Thomas Manning, John R. Mott, Gifford Pinchot, Jacob August Riis, Theodore Roosevelt, Speck von Sternberg, and William Howard Taft.

Matt W. Ransom Papers, 1845-1914

Ransom, Matt W. (Matt Whitaker), 1826-1904. Matt W. Ransom (1826-1904) was a lawyer; planter; state official; Confederate general; Redeemer; Democratic United States senator from North Carolina, 1872-1895; and United States minister to Mexico, 1895-1897. The collection includes materials, chiefly post-Civil War, relating to Matt W. Ransom. Correspondence, chiefly 1868-1904, relates to the political, economic, and racial aspects of Reconstruction in North Carolina, particularly the railroad industry machinations of George William Swepson; to Ransom's plantations in northeastern North Carolina, particularly in regard to cotton marketing and labor; to national and state party politics, 1868-1904; and to Ransom's diplomatic service in Mexico. Much of the collection consists of Ransom's papers as a senator, including correspondence with politicians and constituents covering most of the major issues of the time: race relations; federal actions affecting southern agriculture and industry, including the tariff, the debate over silver-backed currency, and agrarian unrest; women's suffrage; and many others. Correspondents include Susan B. Anthony, Sallie Clay Bennett, Grover Cleveland, Sallie Southall Cotten, F.M. Simmons, George William Swepson, Zebulon B. Vance, Garland H. White, and H.G. Williams. Also included are papers relating to a variety of family and business concerns. Material on Ransom's Civil War career and the first three years of Reconstruction is relatively slight, and there is no material related to his pre-war political career.

Creek Indian land grant, 1843

1 item.
In the Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (#191-z).
Letters patent for land sold by the Hoak-te Charte-Kay tribe of Creek Indians to Philip Ware, Rufus D. Peeples, and Peter Dudley "in the Coosa Land District, Alabama," with the approval of John Tyler, president of the United States.

J.L.M. Curry Papers, 1890-1903

Curry, J. L. M. (Jabez Lamar Monroe), 1825-1903. Southern educator. Two letters from Grover Cleveland, and one each from James Bryce and Wade Hampton, to Curry concerning Curry's work with the Slater Fund for the education of freedmen. Also included are a description of an incident in the Confederate Congress, written by Curry, and a hymn written for his memorial service.

Caffery Family Papers, 1838-1925

Caffery family. The Caffery and Richardson families of Iberia Parish, La. Prominent family members include Bethia Liddell Richardson (d. 1852); her husband, Francis DuBose Richardson (b. 1812), sugar planter at Bayside Plantation on Bayou Teche and state legislator; their daughter, Bethia (Richardson) Caffery (fl. 1866-1907); and her husband, Donelson Caffery (1835-1906), son of Donelson Caffery (fl. 1830s) and Lydia Murphy Caffery McKerall (fl. 1835-1881), lawyer of Franklin, La., sugar planter, Confederate soldier, state legislator, and U.S. senator, 1892-1901. Chiefly personal correspondence among Caffery and Richardson family members. Most of the Richardson family papers are dated 1838-1852 and cover topics such as sugar planting, purchases and settlement of land, and family activities. The bulk of the Caffery family papers fall between 1866 and 1906. Their letters are chiefly about family activities, but also include Donelson Caffery letters about politics in Louisiana and Washington, D.C. There are a number of letters written to Donelson while he was a U.S. senator that congratulate him for his stand on the gold standard, two letters from Grover Cleveland, and letters concerning Democratic Party matters. Letters from later years deal chiefly with Donelson's efforts in the face of financial difficulties, including work on his sugar plantations and attempts at establishing oil wells.

T. Butler King papers, 1763-1868, 2003

ca. 4000 items (11.5 linear ft.)
In the Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (#1252).
Master microfilm (M-1252) held by: NcU.
Microfilm filmed by University of North Carolina, Library, Photographic Service, 1987-1988.

Papers of King and his wife Anna Matilda Page King, 1835-1840, deal primarily with King's business, managerial, and legislative activities on behalf of the Brunswick and Altamaha Canal Company, the Brunswick and Florida Railroad Company, and the Brunswick Land Company. Papers, 1841-1848, document King's political career as U.S. representative from Georgia's First Congressional District, which included Glynn County and the cities of Brunswick and Savannah. Among these are papers about his activities as member and chair of the U.S. House Naval Affairs Committee and about Whig political activities in Georgia, the South, and the nation. Materials, 1849-1852, deal with King's work in California, first as the personal adviser of President Zachary Taylor and then as the first collector of the port of San Francisco under Millard Fillmore. Between 1853 and 1859, papers deal with family matters and King's investments in and promotion of a transcontinental railroad through Texas. Papers, 1860-1864, relate to his promotion of railroads in south Georgia, his association with the secession crisis, and his activities on behalf of the state of Georgia and the Confederacy in various European capitals during the first years of the Civil War. There also are letters, diaries, and other materials relating to the King sons at various locations during the war and other family letters that reflect the effects of the war. Letters discussing plantation and family matters account for almost half of the collection. Most of these were written between 1850 and 1859 by Anna Matilda Page King, who chiefly discussed agricultural matters, including the treatment of slaves, but also expressed a certain amount of anti-semitism and wrote of her experimentation with the occult.
Microfilm contents: Reel 1-19. See finding aid.
Microfilm copy of materials in the repository as of 1988 (see finding aid for details).
Thomas Butler King of Retreat Plantation, Saint Simons Island, Ga., was a Georgia and United States legislator, collector of the port of San Francisco, and Georgia representative to various courts in Europe during the Civil War, with special interests in internal improvements and naval affairs.

Edwin Anderson Alderman Papers, 1880-1893

Alderman, Edwin Anderson, 1861-1931. President of University of North Carolina, 1896-1900; president of Tulane University, 1900-1904; and president of University of Virginia, 1904-1931. Notebook kept by Alderman on Francis William Simonds's lectures on health and physiology at the University of North Carolina, 1880; a letter, 12 June 1887, from Grover Cleveland to Alderman regarding the North Carolina Teachers' Assembly; and two other items.